The Quitting Game

For some NASCAR teams, starting a racethen parking after only a few lapsis a way of life.

On rare occasions, according to several garage veterans, NASCAR has allowed cars without engines onto starting grids. At Dover in 2001, a regional driver crashed his car after qualifying and wiped it out. He had a second car, but it had no engine. NASCAR allowed him to put the car on the grid. The car completed no laps, of course, and was pushed to the garage with “ignition” problems. NASCAR’s decision allowed the car to “start” the race and win $9,483 in last-place money, as opposed to winning $0.

Field fillers and start-and-park cars all but disappeared from NASCAR in the high-flying 1990s, when more than enough race-ready teams existed to fill the fields.

The reappearance of start-and-park cars is “absolutely” a reflection of the economy, says Joe Balash, NASCAR Nationwide series director. Some teams have a start-and-park car that “almost becomes a sponsor” for the primary car, he acknowledges.

“One of the reasons for the start-and-parks is we’ve grown our purses and our purse structures,” Balash says. “And we’ve made the Nationwide series a destination series where you can make a good living. So there is revenue available in 40th to 43rd positions.

“We have an open-door policy,” Balash says. “We have criteria that drivers, teams, and owners have to meet. And if they meet those criteria, then they can participate in the event. We’re not going to measure someone’s ability to run the event after they’ve met all those other criteria. We don’t go in and manage whether they’re running one lap or running 10 laps or the whole race. By the rule book, they have come to the event, they have practiced the cars [two laps minimum], they have qualified the cars, and they have earned that starting position.”

When a car drops out and the team offers an explanation, NASCAR takes their word for it, Balash says. “We don’t disassemble their cars or do anything like that.”

Cope says, “Bottom line is, whether you run the whole race or don’t run the whole race, you’ve still got to qualify on your own merits and meet all the criteria everybody else does. And NASCAR has locked in the first 30 spots, so it’s even harder. There’s a lot of risk versus reward. There are 53 cars here at Charlotte, so there’s a good chance you’re going to go home. And you’ve still spent your $10,000.”

The risk was quite evident at Charlotte last October. Cope entered two start-and-park cars, which cost him $20,000, but only one qualified, and it earned $14,935 for 39th place, so Cope had a net loss in the Nationwide garage. He also had a car entered in Sprint Cup, but rain fell on qualifying day, and he never got a chance to run, so he lost thousands more.

Undeterred, Cope took his Sprint Cup car to Martinsville Speedway the following weekend, where last place paid $66,555. Cope paid the $3300 nonrefundable inspection fee to NASCAR and paid thousands more to haul his car and crew up there. But qualifying was again rained out, and this time Cope didn’t even get to make a practice lap. It was another costly weekend.

“We’ve been at the pinnacle of the sport, and we’ve done it the other way,” Cope said, hands shoved in his jacket pockets as rain dripped down the sides of the portable shelter he stood under at Martinsville. “I think we’re doing a credible job. We still gotta come out here and go up against guys that are throwing tons of money and tons of sponsorship at it. And you want to diminish what we do? I think that’s unfair.”